Sponsored Programs Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research

Andrew Gillham has 13 years of graphic design teaching experience and 18 years of commercial graphic design experience. Mr. Gillham has been employed at Indiana University of Pennsylvania since 1999 and is the head of the Graphic Design Studio Area at IUP. He is also responsible for the structure and teaching of all graphic design courses at the university. Mr. Gillham worked in industry in Detroit prior to returning to graduate school and has run his own free-lance design business since 1988. Andrew's work experience includes clients such as General Motors, Ford Motors, NAPA auto, aerospace companies, real estate firms, and most recently, Air Force Special Operations Command.

Mr. Gillham received awards in 2004 and 2005 totaling $64,370 from the US Air Force to develop a program to train aircrew members on the best methods to prevent in-flight mishaps that generally result in serious injury or death and loss of irreplaceable special operations aircraft. The program is designed to take aircraft accident reports, and boil them down into a 5-8 minute visual, ultra-high resolution animation of what happened to cause the mishap. The animation is followed by a “lessons learned” briefing by pilots and aircrew members who are recognized professionals among their peers. This will allow AFSOC to rapidly distribute timely accident prevention information across the command.

In 2003 Andrew received the Outstanding Achievement in Safety Award from the Air Force Special Operation Command. In his letter of award Lt. General Hester stated, “Professor Gillham's Digital Eagle Program will be directly responsible for saving the lives of special operations aircrews and for preventing the loss of combat resources vital to our nation's defense.”